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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Criticism, no one likes it but it will come to us all at some point. This past week our local paper did a story on Operation Serve, a once a year service project involving over 1,300 volunteers and 30 projects that GCC coordinates each year. It was amazing to watch people make comments online and criticize the church and volunteers for the effort to serve people in our community. I think folks involved did a good job of guarding their responses. Jesus said, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you or falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." Matthew 5:11. The only way to respond when we are attacked because we serve, care, or innovate in the local church is respond with love. We can respond, but we have to respond in love and count it a blessing that we have been criticized for being Christ to a city. We have nothing to defend...we serve with a heart of love. We serve because we love what God loves.

It is a great reminder that when you step out and try to innovate or make a difference in any community there will be criticism. People always question motives. People will always ask why what we are doing is needed. Criticism will come! We respond with truth and love and remain focused on the mission.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

This picture does not mean much to you because it is just my 2 girls swinging. Sure it is cute! Sure Kelyn is rocking some sweet Tennessee Vol colors! More than that, this was a big moment for me yesterday. This was the first time both my girls were on the swing set together in normal swings. We took down the blue baby swing last weekend and this was the day for Kelyn and Kozbi to try out the new swing together. Our girls are growing up. It happens so fast and it is a cool reminder for me work hard to enjoy every moment of it! I only get so many days to invest in my kids before they are out of my house and on their own. This time is short but it is an extremely powerful time to make an impact in their lives. Koz and Kel...dad loves ya!

Operation Serve 2009 was amazing! I am so proud of how people from across this city came together to serve. Op Serve is one of those events where anyone can serve, anyone can unite and be a part, anyone can make a difference. I am posting the video here because i want you to check out how many people of all ages are serving. Thanks to all of you who were a part of OP Serve. We love our city and are so thrilled we get to make it a better place to live.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Finished reading Think Orange last month and I was simply blown away. I have been trying to process how to put into words what this book means to the family ministry movement. Our team at GCC was learning from Reggie when he was on staff at North Point Community Church in Atlanta. When he left NP to found Rethink we attended the first Orange Conference where they cast the vision for what family ministry can look like when Youth, Children, and Preschool leaders work together to empower families and invest in kids and teens! This is a book that contains a dream of what ministry to the family can look like. Think Orange brings this dream together and places in on paper in a clear and inspiring read. It will challenge you, inspire you, and scare you all at the same time. The concepts and ideas in the pages flow from a lifetime of work from leaders all across the country. Our team at GCC is actively living out the idea of going ORANGE with our families. In four years of ministry we are beginning to see the difference it can make. I hope you will go get the book and take the time to work through it slowly.

If you want to learn more about what is means to Think Orange you need to check out the regional gatherings going down this fall. Go check out The Orange Tour and make plans to attend one of these smaller regional events. I have marked my calendar for the Nashville location in October.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Today 1,300 volunteers will gather at 30 sites around Clarksville and Fort Campbell to SERVE. Our one goal is to make a difference in the lives of people in our city. One of my favorite aspects of this day is that families get to serve together. Our 6 year old will be with Chelsea and I all day serving at New Spring Thrift store (this is a store that supports Africa for Jesus). The time that families get to spend together serving is priceless. Just want to ask you to pray for the day. I hope to have some stories and pictures from today up next week. Big thanks to all of you who are serving today and to the Op Serve Leadership Team that invest countless hours to make this happen.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

We are working hard to find ways to partner with parents in all our environments for kids. I am so stoked that Adam Bayne, our director of children's ministry at GCC, has started using video updates for the parents to fill them in on what will happen each week. We like the video route because we can see how many parents check it out, we can pack a ton of info into a short clip, and it allows us to connect with parents in a way that and email or handout can't. Here is our parent video for Sept. 27. Check this out!

We are also using video to update our volunteers on each week's lesson and get info about dance moves to our worship leaders. IT WORKS...check them out and feel free to use our dance videos for your ministry.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

So excited about our new series at REMIX because I think this is where a ton of us are if we would be honest. We have been close to God, we have been redeemed bu God, we have experienced God, but for some reason right now we are just not that into Him! Some of us have given up on reconnecting. Some of us just want this space in between us and the creator to disappear. It is going to be a great three weeks at REMIX.

Some of you have asked about our graphics and series ideas. We partner with an incredible group of people at XP3 with our series and small group plans for Relevant Student Ministry. I love being able to partner with this team because they are so creative and they support our strategy. Take some time and check out what XP3 is up too...great stuff!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

I am taking the family to Disney World for the first time in 19...oops make that 18 days. You can feel the excitement in our house. Yesterday I came home and Kozbi and Kelyn had made a huge countdown calendar complete with an array of Disney characters so they can mark it off day by day! The anticipation is thick in my house. Working, saving, and planning for the trip has been so much fun this year. YES and entire year to get ready for this trip. Again...the anticipation is so worth it.

As I think about anticipation I think the church (your children's, youth, small group, Sunday school, every area of your ministry) needs to work hard to use anticipation. We live in an immediate gratification kind of world. Why do we have to feed into that? Why do we try to pack so many mediocre events into our calendars to feed the immediate monster that we neglect the anticipation that one amazing project, event, or service can bring? Anticipation is brought on by careful planning recruiting, and promotion. When we plan, recruit, and promote we use time to allow momentum to build. People begin to anticipate what is going to happen. Anticipation brings energy and excitement. The part we can learn from Disney is that the experience has to meet and hopefully exceed what was anticipated! This is also where we can move beyond anything we see here on earth. We are creating services, events, and projects that help people engage the heart of God. We are creating space where people can encounter God! I think the anticipation is worth it. The Bible says in the book of Psalms...

14 Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord Psalm 27:14 (NLT)

Monday, September 21, 2009

Cross Street Live got underway yesterday and it was an amazing start to the new year. I am so proud of our actors, worship leaders, and tech crew. You all did an amazing job! and all you families who came...you rock! You gave 800 dollars to help the Garcia family with their adoption in the http://www.bringingkellseyhome.com/ effort!

Adam Bayne and Chad Rowland made their CSL debut last night...WOW! They were great!

Titan Update...do not give up Titan fans, we will be OK.

Vol Update...proud of the Vols for fighting hard in the swamp! Hoping for 7 wins!

MTSU update...WE BEAT MARYLAND!!! Go blue raiders! (my Alma mater)

Yes if you did no notice it is football season and I am consumed. I love football!

Relevant Student Ministry is blowing us away. It is so amazing to see the impact we are having each week in teens lives. Our second location is going great and this fall has been so amazing.

The three services at GCC are working well. Big thanks to all our volunteers for making this idea happen. It is working! I LOVE 11:30 service...that is the place to be!

I led worship this Sunday in Cross Street on Sunday morning...IT WAS CRAZY, thanks to all the kids for going for it with me. it was fun!

Operation Serve is this weekend and the buzz is in the air. I love GCC folks get so stoked about serving. Operation Serve is a one day missions effort in our city. Over 1,000 volunteers will be serving our city. We are pumped.

I love where I work and what I do. I am so glad I get to serve with these people at GCC. For all of you serving in a place you are not passionate, HOLD ON! Work hard where you are at but never stop dreaming about what is next. Where you are at right now will not last forever!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

We are so excited about Cross Street Live coming back Sunday night September 20! Just wanted to share this info for those of you at GCC! Here is a repost of some important info for Sunday night...>>>>>>>>>>>>Cross Street Live will be here on Sunday September 20! Cross Street Live is our family experience we put on once a month for families in our community. We know that families are looking for things they can do together. This is a TOGETHER experience and both parents and kids will love it. We hope you will click on the logo and check out the CSL website to get a glimpse of what it will be like.

We also want to announce that this month CSL will be partnering with the Garcia family to help with their international adoption of an incredible little girl from Eastern Europe. The Garcia's found Kellsey through Reece's Rainbow an organization that facilitates international adoptions of children with special needs. The Garcia family needs to raise around 9,000 dollars to finish the process and bring Kellsey home...home to Clarksville...home to Barksdale Elementary...home to Grace Community Church...home to an incredible future here. On September 20 we are going to host a PASTA night @ CSl from 4:45-5:30 so we can ask for donations to help with this cause. We think CSl can make a difference. Make plans to have your family at CSL and help us bring Kellsey home! Go to http://www.bringingkellseyhome.com and read more about this journey!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

This past Sunday we celebrated 4 years of serving Clarksville here at Grace Community. How did we celebrate...we just had to gather some special people to enjoy the moment with us. Check this video out. On a serious note, I am so blown away by the God size work that has happened with GCC. This adventure never ceases to amaze me. Happy Birthday GCC!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

We all have friends and we all struggle to maintain healthy relationships with the friends we have. This has been a powerful series @ REMIX and tonight we wrap it up and focus on how to deal with conflict. Conflict has the potential to bring relationships together or divide them. The choice is up to us in how we respond to conflict. The message from tonight will be up on the podcast. I am stoked to see how our students take it all in and live it out.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

At Relevant we are working hard to connect and partner with parents of teens. The teenage years are difficult for teens and parents and it is our hope to come along side and be a consistent presence for the family. I used to think that parents needed to hear from me...the youth pastor. I have found they need to hear from people directly mentoring their child more. Sure students hear me speak each week but they live life and process and connect through the week with another person, the small group leader. The connection to bridge the gap between parents and youth ministry once again leads to our incredible small group leaders. Each week our small group leaders are sending an email to parents after our gathering at REMIX to give them an update. Our first parent email went out from small group leaders and we got this feedback from one of our small group leaders...

"I emailed my teens parents this week. I got so many encouraging emails back from moms and dads on how they are praying for me daily, how I am such a huge part of their teenagers life, an answer to prayer, etc.

One mom emailed me back and said that it was such a God thing because she was about to look me up on the school system website in order to contact me because she wanted to talk to me about her son - the mom and dad are going through a hard time and she is worried about him, etc and she wanted to meet with me and talk..."

This kind of interaction can only come if we engage parents and partner with them. This level of support can only come through effective small group ministry. Do we have this partnership things nailed down???? NO! We just want to keep working on it. We think partnering with families can lead to next level spiritual formation in the lives of teens.

If you want to connect more about partnering with families I would love to talk, email me at michael@gcomchurch.com

Monday, September 14, 2009

I have been through a few weeks of evaluating and thinking through different youth ministry strategies. There are so many strategies that ministries use and so many of them are making a difference. Many youth ministries have a strategic plan but there are also just as many organizations looking to the past and moving through year after year of ministry with teens by implementing mindless programs ran because tradition says that they should work. There is no thought given to WHY DO WE DO WHAT WE DO? Strategy leads us to to plan our direction not rely on good intentions. Andy Stanley says our direction, not our intentions determine our destination. Our strategy helps keep on track, plan with purpose, and provide a way to measure what matters. One of the best things that happened to our team at Relevant Student Ministry was that we started from day one with a strategy we would embrace with passion. We believe God has called us to fulfill our strategy here in our city. When things have been hard we had a plan to keep working on. When things have been good we have been able to give credit to God and this strategy he planted in our hearts. If you are out there and you are leading a youth ministry take the time to nail down your strategy. Read, pray, study the Bible, talk to other leaders, go to conferences, listen to podcasts...MAKE SURE YOUR MINISTRY HAS A STRATEGY YOU CAN EMBRACE...then work that plan with passion.

Friday, September 11, 2009

This is the big weekend here and we just want to spread the word. We are adding a third service at GCC and everybody has to change their church schedule. We are thrilled to make more room for you to invite your friends and neighbors to come check out GCC. I am also amazed at how our volunteers have stepped up to make this a reality. This Sunday we start a new series and add new service times...DO NOT MISS THIS! See ya Sunday!

Hope everyone as a great weekend and know that after the Titan loss I need a Vol and MTSU win. I will be at the MTSU game Saturday night so look for updates on FB and Twitter.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Cross Street Live will be here on Sunday September 20! Cross Street Live is our family experience we put on once a month for families in our community. We know that families are looking for things they can do together. This is a TOGETHER experience and both parents and kids will love it. We hope you will click on the logo and check out the CSL website to get a glimpse of what it will be like.

We also want to announce that this month CSL will be partnering with the Garcia family to help with their international adoption of an incredible little girl from Eastern Europe. The Garcia's found Kellsey through Reece's Rainbow an organization that facilitates international adoptions of children with special needs. The Garcia family needs to raise around 9,000 dollars to finish the process and bring Kellsey home...home to Clarksville...home to Barksdale Elementary...home to Grace Community Church...home to an incredible future here. On September 20 we are going to host a PASTA night @ CSl from 4:45-5:30 so we can ask for donations to help with this cause. We think CSl can make a difference. Make plans to have your family at CSL and help us bring Kellsey home! Go to http://www.bringingkellseyhome.com and read more about this journey!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

This morning we asked Our families at Grace Communityto Go Orange! You know I love my Tennessee Volunteers but we were not asking them to become Vols fans. We asked parents to partner with us at church to invest in the lives of their children. We believe that 2 combined influences can do more than one influence alone. When the church (yell0w) and the family (red) combine their effort we call that GOING ORANGE. The greatest influence in a kid's life are parents. The church has a chance to be a powerful influence in the life of the entire family. When we work together and work hard to move in the same direction the family and church can make a powerful team. Today we shared three ways that we can partner...ways the church and the family can work together...

SHOW UP // we hope parents will make GCC a regular part of their weekly routine and at GCC we promise to work hard to create amazing environments where the family can connect with God. Church should be one of the best few hours of the families lives each week!

TAKE IT HOME // the next level of partnership comes when the family lives their faith out in the home. We promise to provide tools that help the family talk about what the church is teaching their kids each week. Most parents just need help knowing where to start. We will give you tools each week in all our environments!

TAKE THE NEXT STEP // this is where parents go the extra mile to connect with their kids. At GCC we will provide a family experience called Cross Street Live so kids (k-5) and parents and worship together once a month. We will also help fuel parents with ideas of cool traditions they can establish in their home to help take the NEXT STEP to connect!

To all of you who are a part of GCC, we are excited to see what GOING ORANGE will mean in the lives of your kids in the years to come. Our hope is together we can help kids gain a spiritual foundation that we just never had. If you want to learn more about our environments for kids go check out www.gcomkids.comand for teens check out www.relevantstudents.com.

To listen to the GO ORANGE message from Sunday click on the GO ORANGE logo! For an deeper look at how the church can partner with the family check out Reggie Joiner's book called THINK ORANGEand get ready to be blown away with the possibility of what Going Orange can mean for the church and family.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

This was a wild week. We launched a new website for Cross Street Live. We launched a second location of REMIX in a partnership with OneChurch in the exit one area. I have been working on 2 messages this week. Our family ministry team has been planning a location move for our k-5 small groups this Sunday at GCC. Along with tons of other surprises it was a wild, crazy wild, amazing wild week. As crazy as it was...IT WAS FUN! I work with some really fun staff and volunteers. When you enjoy the people you work, your believe in the mission, and you have fun working as a team LIFE IS BETTER! I think a team that has fun working together produces a better product. Teams that enjoy being together support each other, laugh with each other, laugh at each other, and work harder together. This is not just a staff issue either, it also applies for our volunteer leaders. If we have fun being together we will be more efficient and create better environments. I think FUN is a big deal. If the culture in your organization has lost its fun factor it is time to stop and ask why! Just something to think about. Have a fun weekend everyone. I will as I watch Tennessee BEAT Western Kentucky Saturday! GO VOLS!